Chapter Text
They arrived in Olympus. In the throne room, Zeus was discussing with Dionysus, Athena, and Hermes.
“Ah, they have finally arrived,” proclaimed Zeus, “Hermes, if you would send for the others?”
“Yes, father,” Hermes said before leaving to message the others to come.
They began discussing while waiting for the other gods to arrive.
“Who all is coming?” Percy asked confused.
“The entire council will be gathered,” Athena said, “This is…a significant thing for us to discuss.”
“Dionysus,” Poseidon began, “You were once a mortal demigod who ascended to immortality and godhood. Percy had a fever which I believe was his mortality burning away. Do you have any insights to offer on the situation?”
“I’m not a situation,” Percy mumbled disgruntled.
Dionysus ignored him, “Yes, that sounds likely. He appears to be immortal. It is odd for someone to ascend to immortality accidentally without outside intervention, but it is not unheard of.”
“I never wanted to become immortal; is there any way to undo it and go back to being mortal?” Percy questioned.
“While it may be possible to bind your powers or temporarily bind you to a mortal body, your soul is now that of an immortal and that cannot be undone,” Zeus proclaims with a thoughtful look at Apollo as he entered.
“If you decided to smite me, would it kill me?” Percy asked hopefully.
“Don’t you dare,” Poseidon hissed at his brother.
Zeus rolled his eyes, “As tempting as it would be to smite you, I suspect it would merely grievously injure you but not truly kill you. We can save such experiments for another time.”
“You all are so sure I’m immortal now, but how? Is there a way to test it to confirm?” Percy asked.
“Well, the easiest would be to make you bleed and see if it is ichor,” Ares said as he took his seat, sounding a bit bloodthirsty.
Percy shrugs, “fair enough,” and uncaps riptide and slices his hand open. To everyone’s surprise, his blood was red, “So does that mean I’m not immortal?” Percy asked hopefully.
“How peculiar,” Athena commented, “You certainly seem immortal.” As she spoke, Percy’s wound healed over. It had begun healing as soon as he received it, even though normally it requires water for his wounds to heal. “Even more peculiar. Even us gods normally don’t instantly heal our wounds like that.”
“Is he a regular immortal or is he a god? Could the red blood have to do with his domains if he is a god?” Hermes said ponderingly.
Apollo looked Percy over appraisingly, using his prophetic talents, “He definitely is immortal and I suspect a god as well. I can see how his potential domains could lead to the red blood.”
“What are his domains?” Poseidon asked.
“I’m not certain, and I shouldn’t say unless I’m sure,” Apollo answered, “I shall send for the fates so that they can proclaim his new title and domains formally.”
They waited for the fates to arrive. Percy fidgeted. He avoided looking at Athena because she looked too much like Annabeth. He contemplated trying to bait Zeus into smiting him.
Dionysus, god of madness, shot him an exasperated look, “Oh that’s gonna be annoying, a suicidal immortal.”
“I’m not…,” Percy started to argue defensively.
Dionysus interrupted, “You want to be mortal so badly that becoming immortal has made you outright suicidal. Well, combined with the grief that is. It’s better not to waste your time trying.” Noticing Poseidon’s glare at his insensitivity he added, “You can come to me if you need counseling, I guess. Just as Apollo heals our physical injuries, I’m supposed to help with the mental ones. And I can relate to the struggles of transitioning from demigod to god.”
“Noted,” Percy said while shifting uneasily from his spot beside his Father’s throne. Poseidon gave him a concerned look and put his hand on his shoulder reassuringly.
The rest of the twelve Olympians finished filing in. Lastly, Hades entered along with the three Fates.
“What are you doing here?” Zeus said disapprovingly to Hades.
“The Fates insisted my presence would be useful,” Hades said as he summoned in his winter solstice throne to the throne room and sat on it, “And I’m not one to argue against the Fates.”
The fates looked pointedly at Percy, “Approach, seeker, and ask,” They said as one while unspooling a golden thread. His thread, he realized, seeing the first proof of his new immortality.
He took a deep breath to steady himself then approached. “Who and what am I now?” Percy asked.
Clotho spoke, “You are Perseus Zagreus, god of Hurricanes and Blood, of treacherous seas and the waters of the dead. Patron god of Heroes and Sharks.”
Lachesis spoke, “You are Perseus the Destroyer and Earthshaker, god of Hurricanes and Treacherous waters. God of Heroes and Survivors, subjects of Prophecy, child soldiers and children in need.”
Atropos spoke, “You are and will be Zagreus the Repentant, God of Blood and the waters of the dead. God of poison and battle medicine.”
All three fates spoke as one, “You are Perseus Zagreus, god of Hurricanes and Blood, god of Heroes and god of Mortality.”
As they spoke, Percy’s appearance changed. He kept his black hair though one of his eyes turned red. He wore a toga that was mostly black but one side was trimmed with blue and the other side trimmed with red, both matching his eyes on that side. After a moment, the red on his toga and in his eye changed to blue and he was left firmly in his Perseus aspect.
“That is a lot of domains,” Poseidon mused, breaking the silence.
“What’s with this Zagreus thing? I’ve never even heard that name before, how is that suddenly supposed to be me?” Percy asked confused.
“Ah, I can explain that,” Hades began, “Sometimes humans come up with the idea of a god all on their own even though no such individual was ever actually born. Zagreus was invented by humans in this way as the neverborne god of blood. They imagined Zagreus as my child with Persephone, but we never had such a child, nor did I ever have a demigod child who fit the description. It sounds like you earned the title of God of Blood and subsumed the neverborne god Zagreus as an aspect. Or will, at least.”
As he spoke, Percy got flashes of vague half-formed memories of ancient times, presumably from this Zagreus aspect. “That’s….a lot to try and process,” Percy grumbled.
Dionysus spoke, “Zagreus was also sometimes misidentified with me, but despite some people believing wine is equivalent to blood, I never had power over blood so never connected with the aspect.”
“As I suspected, being god of blood explains why you still bleed red. God of battle medicine is interesting, guessing that is specifically for healing bleeding injuries which makes sense as god of blood. I’d be happy to help teach you healing if you like,” Apollo said kindly.
Percy simply nodded, trying to think through everything. “If I’m a god now, does that mean I can choose a mortal to make immortal as my uh spouse? Could I bring Annabeth back….if she agreed to it?” He asked hopefully.
“Technically you can if we agree to it,” Zeus mumbled while Athena looked hopeful of her daughter’s return.
“Awww, that’s so sweet that you want to do that, I’d definitely agree,” said Aphrodite.
Hades looked uncomfortable then spoke, “Normally yes, but unfortunately…..well, no mortal has ever died in Tartarus before. You did a good job bringing her body back and she was able to go to Elysium, but her soul was quite damaged by the time in Tartarus, she would never have found peace. She elected for rebirth, the Lethe and a new life will heal her soul. It might be a possibility in the future after she’s lived her next life, she might remember her past life, but she may never be the Annabeth you knew before.”
Percy wanted to cry but held back his tears lest he cause another storm.
“Isn’t the storms and treacherous waters thing kind of encroaching on Kym’s domain?” Percy asked his father.
“Kymopoleia?” Poseidon asked, surprised Percy would bring her up, “Hmm, she’s the goddess of violent sea and storms. You are hurricanes specifically, so while you do seem to be able to create other storms, hurricanes are the only ones that are specifically your domain. I expect you would have more power over the Atlantic and specifically waters around North America, Kym would have more power over the Mediterranean Sea and waters in the old world in general. Also, her power is more storms over the ocean itself whereas your power seems to include storms from the sea which go over land.”
“Does the earthshaker bit mean I have power over earthquakes? Do I have to worry about not causing those in addition to hurricanes?” Percy asked.
“Well based on the number you caused….,” Hades grumbled, having had to deal with bad traffic from people dying en masse. Poseidon glared at him.
“It does not sound like it is specifically your domain but you do have power over it,” Poseidon replied, “Earthquakes are at the intersection of my domain and Hades’, and with your Zagreus aspect you are also at the intersection of the two of us, so it makes sense that your earthquake powers might be stronger than before.”
“I don’t think I had earthquake powers before?” Percy questioned.
“You caused earthquakes with the Mt. St. Helens eruption,” Poseidon informed him.
“Looking back on it, he was extraordinarily powerful as a demigod, it’s not so surprising that he ended up ascending to godhood,” mused Artemis.
“I’m not even an adult, I’m too young to be a god,” Percy says.
“You’ll be able to learn to change your form to be older,” Hermes said trying to be reassuring.
“Ah, I suppose that would be difficult,” Dionysus said, “I was an adult in my prime when I ascended, I had finished maturing, I see how it would be difficult to suddenly become a god at such a young age.”
“A Half-blood of the eldest gods/ shall reach 16 against all odds,” mused Apollo, “Reached 16, but never more than that. I suspect part of you will always feel 16. Which also explains why you have domains involving groups of children. My Sister and I tend to chose younger forms because we are the gods of youths.”
“Where did the poison part come from? I don’t understand how that came to be one of your powers,” Demeter asked.
Percy thought back to Tartarus and using Akhlys’s poison against her. “I understand where I got that I think,” Percy replied, distinctly not explaining because he doesn’t want to talk about it.
“Akhlys died so there was an opening for god of Poison,” one of the Fates explained cheerfully as Percy glared at them to shut up.
“A goddess died? Why were we not informed?” boomed Zeus.
“Hmmm, I see,” Hades mused while looking at Percy before turning to Zeus, “She was Chthonic, not an Olympian, I did not think it was any of your business. Did you even care to notice when Pan faded at last? He was one of yours.”
“I reported it to him, but no he had not noticed on his own,” Demeter replied.
“Anyways, Perseus, through your Zagreus aspect you are now considered a Chthonic deity so you are permitted to travel to the underworld as you wish. I would prefer you have an escort to ensure you know your way around. Though, you cannot visit those you knew in life without my express permission. Your father should fill you in regarding the ancient laws,” Hades said.
“I already know my way around the underworld, I’ve been several times,” Percy replied confused.
“You need not remind me,” Hades grumbled, “An escort to keep you out of trouble then.”
“That sounds more like it,” Percy replied cheekily.
“I second that Poseidon should ensure his son is well informed on the ancient laws he needs to avoid breaking. He’s caused enough trouble as a demigod, we don’t need him causing more issues as a god,” Zeus said and waited for Poseidon to nod in acknowledgement, “Well, I think that’s enough discussing of things. You all are dismissed. Except Apollo, there’s something I wish to discuss with you.”
At that, Poseidon teleported Percy back to Atlantis. “Welcome to godhood, son.”